of niagara falls



F. A. J. FITZ GERALD.

LCTR|C FURNACE. APPLICAHOK mm Dccfe. I920.

Patenmd Oct. 31,1922.

Arron/1:7

Paten ed Oct. 3i, i922.

UNITED, STATES PATENT OFFICE;

FRANCIS A. J. rrrz GERALD, or NIAGARA FALLS. NEW YORK. ASSIGNOR TO-REPUBLIC CARBON COMPANY, mo, or NIAGARA FALLS. 'NEW;YORK,' A CORPORATION OF DELAWARE.

ELECTRIC FURNACE.

Annlication filed December, 9,319201- Serial No, 429,402

, which culcinatiou, at a high tcmperaturgis.

one of the most important. .Thisprocess is carried on in van'ous ways, among,w.hioh the use of the electric furnace is';one.,,nMy; in ention relates partimilarlv.to'an elnntrim turn-ace of this type.

The principal object of mydnvention b as been to provide a furnaceinoqhich parbp i naceous materials may he calcined gwith great; uniformity, as-therate of feed.o;E;.thej ;na,-,, teriul to the furnace may be made directly; in proportion to the amount-of-currentcsed; in the furnace.

It is ivell'known that, in furnaceslof this type, where the bottom of the furnace-forms one electrode, the current must pass through the entire charge of the furnace- I-n,-.pr o' during my invention, I have sought lid 02BX1 come this and have provided a furnace which the generation of heat isalwa'js con-i fined to that part of thctcharge'wh-ioh is" in the process'of CPLlClHtLlZlOHq-HASJSIIG. cars. hnnmcous material already calcined-: i'sim; good conductor of electricity, little heat-is generated by the passage of the icumntthrough it. thus it forms an electric conductor for they current used. so that: the current doing Work is confined to the material being calcined. .uTherefore, throughout the whole operationfthe'ielectric power is alwars onfined to substantially the same quantity of material, thus produc inn a uniformly cnlrined product.

Furthermore. the construction of my furnace is such that it may be advantageously used in plants. operating under peak loads, as great quantities f electricity maybe used ill tllfi :furnacewhen such quantities are availablqfand va product produced ,Which is uniformly calcined irrespective .of the amount of current used.

above; objects'and advantages have been .eccomplished by the device shown in the accompanying, drawings, of which Rig. 1 shows a. side; elevation of. my 1 device, partly, in I section and somewhat diagram- Q -1g..;2"is a,plan' view' ofthe same. ,'l he iurnaoe comprises..=a, steel shell 5, hayinga bpttom, 6 hand being ;reinforced pr i yist e PPI ed e y t angle u;o; 1s. 7=.,..-8and 9 am trunnions,;whioh are sccured itq the sides of the shellat diametricaL ly oppositepoints, By-these trunnions the furnace may ,-bei,iraised and :its contents umrei- ,lQ ,-,i;3 .a, tray, ;arr4 1 n,g'ed beneath the fur- {and proyi'dedwith aplurality of bricks 1 -1 ,or gother suitable separators, whereby a spacer-maleprovided-,beneath the bottom 6 ojhthe furnace shell. LSurrounding the shell 5,,gpiltniitSfUPPBl'g;611d is 5a; cooling aipe lilgqqwliich ,is .provided with i a plurality oii';perforationsv l4,; whereby cooling: fluid, mnductedito the pipe 13-, will be projected alga-inst the-outer'sunfac'e of the furnace shell. The cooling fluid whichpasses-over' the surface of the fu-rnacoshell'5 is collected in the tray IOandis drained therefrom by means of the drain pipel5-provided therein. The; poor endj of the-drain pipe 15 isislight y above-the bottom 6 of the furnaoeshell, :so thatlthc' bottom of the shell will'alwa'ys be immersedin the cooling fluid.

-'The'.furnak:e"shell 5"is provided with arefractory lining 16. and the bottom thereof is provided'with'acarbon lining 17. The ref-rectory .linjng-lti'isof'such a nature that it not only has a high resistance to heat, but also is a nonconductor'o'f electricity. Most refractories'that are non-conductors of electricity, have this characteristic only when they are kept cool. Furthermore, almost all refractories react with carbon at high temperatures. It is necessary, therefore, to keep the refractory lining 1.6 at such a temperature that it will remain a non-conductor of electricity and that the carbonaceous matcrial contained in the furnace will not react l-lnving thus described my invention, what l claim is:

1. An electric furnace for calcining carbonaceous mwferiails comprising gm outer sliell; a. ca'lh'on bottom fol the shll, a 1'0- fvnct-ory lining for the shell vertically and scpgu'ably'movnbleclechroilcs for the lurmwc 

